SAN ANTONIO — The job’s completed so far as 2024 is worried. However with the Dodgers bidding to repeat as World Collection champions — an elusive feat in each latest and franchise historical past — the true work is simply starting.
No workforce has had back-to-back titles because the Yankees gained three in a row from 1998-2000. Not one of the Dodgers’ eight championships got here in consecutive years. The query isn’t whether or not to go for it, however slightly the right way to go about it.
Basic supervisor Brandon Gomes gave one indication of a change that ought to have intriguing ripple results for the Dodgers, asserting that Mookie Betts will seemingly transfer again to the infield and play both second base or shortstop in 2025.
“For Mookie, successful is all the time No. 1,” Gomes mentioned on Wednesday on the Basic Managers Conferences. “So I wouldn’t be stunned if he’s like, ‘Hey, that is the perfect factor. I’ll play wherever.’ I feel catching might be out of the realm of chance, though I’m certain he could be good at that as nicely.
“However yeah, I feel it’s quite a lot of conversations with him as nicely. I do know the toll on the physique is much less within the infield for him. So you may make arguments on either side of it. However the great thing about Mookie is [he’s] probably the most selfless famous person we’ve ever been round. And that permeates by means of the workforce.”
A six-time Gold Glove Award winner in proper discipline, Betts entered Spring Coaching final yr anticipating to maneuver to second base. However following Gavin Lux’s defensive struggles to begin the spring, Betts as a substitute shifted over and have become Los Angeles’ on a regular basis shortstop coming into the common season.
Betts remained at shortstop till he fractured his left hand on June 16. When he returned practically two months later, Betts was initially anticipated to renew his shortstop duties, however supervisor Dave Roberts reversed course on the final minute and as a substitute moved Betts again to proper discipline.
Miguel Rojas dealt with nearly all of the shortstop reps down the stretch earlier than Commerce Deadline acquisition and NLCS MVP Tommy Edman took over the beginning job for a lot of the postseason.
Betts’ return to the infield offers L.A. flexibility in upgrading different elements of the roster, notably the outfield. Edman and Lux are nonetheless underneath membership management and Rojas’ choice for 2025 was exercised, so the Dodgers might think about buying and selling from their surplus of center infielders.
Below the established order, it was going to be tough to usher in outfield assist whereas additionally doubtlessly re-signing Teoscar Hernández, who’s more likely to decline his qualifying supply in favor of a multiyear deal. With Betts in proper discipline, Hernández would primarily begin in left. That leaves middle discipline, however the Dodgers have strong in-house choices in Edman, Andy Pages and James Outman.
Shifting Betts to the infield would open up a corner-outfield spot, which might permit the Dodgers to take a shot at wooing high free agent Juan Soto. Maybe extra realistically, Dalton Speeding, the workforce’s high prospect and No. 39 total based on MLB Pipeline, started getting reps in left discipline halfway by means of 2024 and will have a clearer path to the massive league membership.
However Gomes reiterated that the workforce continues to be discussing the right way to deal with the transition one step at a time.
“I imply, these conversations have been like, ‘Hey, let’s work out Mookie and the way he suits into the infield,'” Gomes mentioned. “It may very well be second, it may very well be quick. We do not actually know but. We have to proceed to have these conversations. However I feel it is way more [that] Mookie’s seeking to get again within the infield greater than anything.”
L.A., naturally, isn’t ruling out including one other center infielder if it offers the workforce a greater probability of creating a repeat championship run. The added problem is upgrading the roster with out sacrificing the chemistry that allowed the Dodgers to succeed by means of adversity in 2024.
There’s little flashiness in versatility, however Betts brings his superstar-caliber play to wherever he’s wanted. And that provides the entrance workplace extra choices in establishing a roster that strikes the fitting stability.
“We’re all the time making an attempt to determine strikes to simply be the very best workforce we might be, and quite a lot of occasions these issues overlap, and generally it signifies that we’ve to make exhausting choices,” Gomes mentioned. “It is not an ideal science by any means. However successful one other championship subsequent yr is on the forefront, after which placing the items collectively round that’s … extra artwork than science.”
